Strict molecular sieving over electrodeposited 2D-interspacing-narrowed graphene oxide membranes

To separate small molecules/species, it’s crucial but still challenging to narrow the 2D-interspacing of graphene oxide (GO) membranes without damaging the membrane. Here the fast deposition of ultrathin, defect-free and robust GO layers is realized on porous stainless steel hollow fibers (PSSHFs) b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2017-10, Vol.8 (1), p.825-10, Article 825
Main Authors: Qi, Benyu, He, Xiaofan, Zeng, Gaofeng, Pan, Yichang, Li, Guihua, Liu, Guojuan, Zhang, Yanfeng, Chen, Wei, Sun, Yuhan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/357/1018
639/638/298
639/638/898
639/925/918/1053
Alcohols
Channels
Damage
Deposition
Electrophoresis
Ethane
Ethene
Ethylene
Graphene
Graphical user interface
Humanities and Social Sciences
Hydrocarbons
Interfaces
Mechanical properties
Membranes
multidisciplinary
Particulate composites
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Stainless steel
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Summary:To separate small molecules/species, it’s crucial but still challenging to narrow the 2D-interspacing of graphene oxide (GO) membranes without damaging the membrane. Here the fast deposition of ultrathin, defect-free and robust GO layers is realized on porous stainless steel hollow fibers (PSSHFs) by a facile and practical electrophoresis deposition (ED) method. In this approach, oxygen-containing groups of GO are selectively reduced, leading to a controlled decrease of the 2D channels of stacked GO layers. The resultant ED-GO@PSSHF composite membranes featured a sharp cutoff between C2 (ethane and ethene) and C3 (propane and propene) hydrocarbons and exhibited nearly complete rejections for the smallest alcohol and ion in aqueous solutions. This demonstrates the versatility of GO based membranes for the precise separation of various types of mixtures. At the same time, a robust mechanical strength of the ED-GO@PSSHF membrane is also achieved due to the enhanced interaction at GO/support and GO/GO interfaces. Producing graphene oxide membranes with narrow channels is desirable for small molecule separations, but methods to narrow the 2D spacing typically result in membrane damage. Here the authors exploit electrophoresis-deposition to prepare GO membranes that are reduced in situ, leading to narrow and uniform 2D channels.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-017-00990-x